Excitement building and a beta so close you can almost taste it, Blizzard announces that LAN will not be supported for its upcoming Starcraft II.

In order to further push and promote battle.net, Blizzard rep Bob Colayco states, “”We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games.While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.”

While Starcraft was a staple of LAN parties, Starcraft II may be one of the games to bring an end to this gaming delight.